Open source some have heard of it some have not, in reality an open source platform can be a better idea than engaging a web development firm to build you a site from scratch.

Most open source platforms have been developed over quite a few years, and as such are quite solid and give little problem to the company looking to have a website created.

Below we have outlined 5 major platforms that cover uses from e-commerce, general website development, blogging and social media applications. Social media is a difficult category and we welcome discussion on platforms for that category, and the rest of course.

Because most of the work has already been done, it is also far more cost effective than starting a website from scratch. Open source in many cases offers a far higher level of functionality than a custom developed site.

For example it is in most cases easy to have a few design themes for your site and enable them for different seasons, such as a Christmas theme, Easter or a his and hers theme.

If we look at scalability; open source in many cases can grow as your website needs, with modules to increase functionality added on as they are needed.

Today we look at the top 5 open source platforms.

Magento

Application - E-commerce - Name - Magento - Example site | Golf Bone Yard | Download Magento | Download feature list (pdf)

Magento is a relatively new player in the open source e-commerce market and in our humble opinion on of the best open source platforms for building an on-line shop front.

Magento is feature rich, design is simple through the construction of templates, is search engine friendly even auto generates a site map.

PHP compatibility is the only area that you may need to look at before downloading.

• 5.2.0 and above
• Required extensions:
  
  • PDO_MySQL
  • simplexml
  • mcrypt
  • hash
  • GD
  • DOM
  • iconv
  • SOAP (if Webservices API is to be used)

Unlike many open source platforms, Magento has a plethora of documentation and tutorials designed to make your life easier when building the online store. Doing it yourself or contract a web development company, it is all made easier with their documentation.

Application - General website - Name - Drupal - Example site | We Seo | Download Drupal | Drupal documentation

Drupal can be looked at more of a website framework than a true CMS, although does have CMS (content management system) capabilities and functionality it is quite raw out of the box. Drupal is quite a solid open source platform but if you are a novice it may scare you or might find it a little difficult to completely set up.

Drupal has an extensive community of support and a host of 3rd party plug ins ready to go. Drupal is mature and stable, and simple to very complicated and high functionality sites can be built upon the framework. Drupal is search engine friendly although does have some duplicate content issues, that are easy to address.

PHP compatibility

• Recommended: PHP 5.2 or higher
• Required: PHP version 4.3.5 or higher

Joomla

Application - General website - Name - Joomla - Example site | Bikin Website | Download Joomla |Joomla documentation

Joomla a fork of the Mambo platform could be looked at as a easier to use CMS than the Drupal platform, unlike Drupal, Joomla is more end user friendly and less intimidating for the first time user. Joomla has a slick interface for performing content changes and administration of the site.

Again Joomla has an extensive community and many commercial quality modules read to go for the platform. Joomla uses template technology and there are simply a host of templates available for the platform. Finding a Joomla developer is not hard either with many companies developing on the platform. Australian Joomla development company....

Wordpress

Application - Blog / Small website - Name - Wordpress - Example site | Pro Blogger | Download Wordpress | Wordpress documentation

Wordpress is probably more known as a blog platform but it can also make a pretty slick website as well. Wordpress has simply a huge following and more template designs than you could throw the proverbial stick at. We use wordpress for our client blog sites, and is easy for the novice to use.

Wordpress has many plugins available for it covering more functionality than we could ever list here, is wordpress the best blogging platform on the planet? That is a big question with so many open source platforms available it is a hard call, it certainly does have an almost cult following but is it the best? Maybe why don't you give us your thoughts on that.

Pligg

Application - Social media- Name - Pligg - Example site | Blog Engage | Download Pligg |

Finding a platform to fit the social media category is not an easy task, in the running was Dolphin, PHPizabi, Elgg, Mugshot and AroundMe all have strengths but many do not conform to the open source criteria. So in the end we decided that Pligg was the best option for someone looking for a platform to handle social media applications.

Even Drupal could be put into this category for use as a social media platform, social media could cover applications such as My Space, Facebook, Digg, social bookmarking utilities. For social bookmarking we have to throw GetBoo into the equation as well. For the social media category is is difficult for a one platform suits all, so we would encourage you look at the different platforms and what you want to achieve with your social site.

We welcome any and all comments and suggestions for this post, with actual real world applications and experience we could build a better resource for our readers.

If you disagree with out top 5 please say so and why you might think that way, if you think there should be other platforms considered we would also welcome such input.

As a community we can help the greater community with open source.